Arranged marriage has been the traditional way of conducting
marriages from the ancient times. Much have changed in the modern world
and today in many parts of the world especially the western part,
marriage decision is totally left to the two individuals who decide to
live together based on love, trust and commitment to each other. This
love, trust and commitment is built over time by knowing each other. But
in majority of the Middle East and south Asian countries marriage is
still fully arranged or at least partly arranged by the elders in the
family and by other authorities and the so called gatekeepers of the
society. These people have considerable influence on the family based on
religious and caste based structures.

photo credit: greenweddingshoes.com

So let's understand what an
arranged marriage is and what are the positives and negatives of the
arranged type of marriage. Further if you decide to go for an arranged
marriage it would be also wise to take some tips and guidelines
regarding this type of marriage.

To start with, we can define arranged
marriages as marriages which are primarily decided by third parties
other than the two individuals who are actually going to get married. It
is also called as prearranged marriage. As this kind of marriage is
arranged by someone other than the persons actually getting married, the
process of courtship is completely curtailed or shortened to a great
extent.

Now these "other persons" in highly traditional societies may
include parents, family elders, relatives, priests and religious
leaders. In a little more liberal atmosphere we can see the utilization
of the services of matchmaking agents, family friends and matrimonial
sites. It has been seen that the matrimonial sites offer at least some
scope for the couple to know each other before getting married. All
other avenues, to a very large extent are out of the direct control and
influence of the actual people getting married.

Arranged marriage: Positives of the arranged type of marriage
Now
let's analyze the positive points of the arranged type of marriage. The
first and foremost thing that comes into mind when we discuss the
positives of arranged marriage is the full support of the families from
both sides. Arranged marriages are decided after lot of meetings and
discussions among parents and elder members in the family and therefore
the chance of any discord in the family as regard to the marriage can be
mostly eliminated out. Further these marriages are built on a solid
foundation of two families coming together and therefore the actual
people getting married get lot of confidence. In fact the trust among
them increases to a great extent because of the all round approval.

Arranged marriage settings actually take away lot of burden and
uncertainty from the lives of the unmarried boys and girls. For example
if the boy or the girl fully know that they are going to get married
only through arranged type of marriage then they don't have to take the
trouble of hunting their life partners by their own. They can
concentrate all their energies on more purposeful and fruitful
endeavours like higher education and a career and leave the decision of
their marriage completely to their parents. The other benefits of the
arranged marriage include financial and physical support from both the
families for the newly wedded couple in terms of starting a new
household of their own.

Moreover the extended family also provides a
cushion in relatively tougher times. The long term benefits of an
arranged marriage include a secure environment for the next generation
under the watchful eyes of the grandparents and a large family.